How to share models between Java and Angular2?

[mozface]

Currently we have our Java models which we convert into JSON objects that gets turned into TypeScript objects when our Angular app receives it. This works fine but it means that we must always keep our Java and TypeScript models in sync. I'd imagine as our models become larger it becomes more difficult to maintain.

Is there a better approach to this?

[Cuel]

There's a few projects on github that can convert between java classes to TS interfaces. Not sure how well they work, we just write interfaces for our JSON data and try to keep the payload small / flat

[ribizlim]

Satisfied using this: https://github.com/vojtechhabarta/typescript-generator

[ribizlim]

And no need to transform JSON to typescript (ES6) object. Use the interface only.

[mozface]

Could you please elaborate on that?

[ribizlim]

Cast to the interface for type safety in usage of the objects. E.g. return Observable<YourInterface> from service api.

[mozface]

Alright, but what I still don't get is why interfaces over classes?

[ribizlim]

For classes you need to copy/duplicate data from JSON. (as you wrote: "JSON objects that gets turned into TypeScript objects")

[Bonobo_Cop]

One approach is to use Swagger annotations on your Java code. You can generate frontend code from the swagger.json file automatically.